The following are specific topics presented by Casebook for discussion and debate among our readers. Please send in any and all comments, ideas, suggestions, and theories concerning any of the below topics using the POST REPLY TO CONFERENCE links, or the SEND MAIL link at the bottom of the page. Replies are posted on the appropriate pages daily.
For the month of June 1996
1. One of the major contributing factors to the theories involving police corruption is the confusion around Warren's decision to personally erase the chalked message in Goulston street before police could photograph it. Briefly, it is believed to have read "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing," and was written directly above a scrap of linen later discovered to have been torn from the clothes of Catherine Eddowes. Corruption theorists claim it was to cover-up Masonic involvement, while "purists" contend it was a necessary move to avoid the eruption of Anti-Semitic violence. What do you think?
2. The woman generally believed to have been the first Ripper victim, Polly Nichols, was found with her throat severed and extensive abdominal mutilation on the night of her death. It was originally stated that there was found only "a wine glass and a half" of blood near the body, and yet such a violent wound should have caused much more blood spillage than that. At the time of the inquest, the idea that she was killed elsewhere and then dropped where she was found was thrown about, but was soon discarded. If she was killed there, why was there so little blood? Conversely, if she was indeed killed elsewhere, why did doctors abandon the idea, and furthermore, of what importance would that fact be?
3. Of the literally dozens of odd coincidences in the case, one which has been advanced most recently has been the idea of anagrams in the Ripper's "writings." Concerning the chalked message on Goulston Street, JUWES was said to have been written in a "rounded schoolboy hand" and the W could very well have been a U and a V. We now have JUUVES, and upon moving one letter back in the alphabet we have ITTUDR -- an anagram for DRUITT. Also, in the Dear Boss letter, the author writes "... I can't use it. Red..." This is a perfect anagram for "I can see Druitt." Are these just a few more coincidences to throw on the pile, or actually clues pointing to the verification of M.J. Druitt as Jack the Ripper? Are there any other hidden anagrams in the case?
4. The Casebook has received countless requests for advice concerning how novice Ripperologists should begin their edification on the case. In your opinion, what books, films, articles, or works in any form of media are best for those who have practically no knowledge of the case? Which provide the most unbiased view of the facts, and which works should be avoided?
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